BJP promises to double Mudra loan limit to 20 lakh & make GST simple in its poll manifesto

“We will launch affordable insurance products for small traders and MSMEs to protect them from accidents like fire, theft, and natural disasters,” the manifesto added

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday promised to double the Mudra loan ceiling to Rs 20 lakh, further expand the coverage of PM SVANidhi to villages, and reduce the compliance burden on the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector.

“In past years, the MUDRA Yojana has turned crores of people into entrepreneurs. Observing this success, the BJP has taken one more ‘sankalp’ – under the MUDRA Yojana, loans up to ₹10 lakh were provided. Now, the BJP has decided to increase the limit to Rs 20 lakh. I am confident that this will be used as a new strength towards building the kind of ecosystem that is required for the era of Industry 4.0,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while launching the BJP’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections 2024.

The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) was launched in 2015 with the aim to facilitate collateral-free micro-credit of up to Rs 10 lakh to non-corporate, non-farm small and micro-entrepreneurs for income-generating activities. Under the PM Mudra Yojana, over 460 million loans worth Rs 27 trillion have been disbursed so far.

The BJP has also promised to simplify the Goods and Services Tax (GST) portal to increase accessibility for users, especially MSMEs and small traders.

“We will launch affordable insurance products for small traders and MSMEs to protect them from accidents like fire, theft, and natural disasters,” the manifesto added.

The BJP has further promised that they will encourage small traders and MSMEs to adopt the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and expand their businesses using the power of technology.

“We will create a suite of public cybersecurity products to help small traders and MSMEs protect themselves against cyber threats and frauds,” it added.

The ruling party further stated that they will reduce compliances for small traders and MSMEs to enhance their ease of living and ease of doing business.

“We will work with state governments and encourage them to simplify state legislation,” said the BJP manifesto.

According to the data shared by the government, India currently has more than 63 million enterprises in the MSME sector.

The manifesto also noted that the government has provided credit under PM Svanidhi to 6.3 million street vendors.

“We will continue to further expand PM Svanidhi to cover street vendors, travelling salesmen, and others from small towns and villages across Bharat,” said the manifesto.

PM-SVANidhi was launched during the Covid-19 pandemic on June 1, 2020, by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to provide collateral-free loans of up to Rs 50,000 for eligible street vendors.